So I was mowing a new customer today for the first time this season. I mowed trimmed and edged. I start blowing the sidewalks etc, and there was a little of a mess because the edging and the neighbor lady from across the street approaches me. So I shut off the blower to see what she wants. I first thought she just wanted an estimate but she says to me, Are you going to blow those clippings off the street. By the way shes old ( I hate old people who think their the sh#t.) I say no. She says well if you don't the wind will blow all of it into my yard. Theres a pause and she says well are you going to do it. At this point I just want to say go **** yourself and I cant beleive I didn't say it. So I thought about it for a second so I just made the decision to blow the stuff out of the street back into my customers yard. My instincts just said do it so you don't cause a bad rap in the neighborhood and possiblt loose a customer. Just wanted to see if any of you have been in this situation and want to hear how you handled it. Thanks

RedMax Man

04-05-2007, 09:27 PM

Sounds like all she asked you to do was cleanup the debris from mowing and edging. Whats so hard about that?
I always blow infront of the curb and the side of the street that i'm edging or mowing. Never leave a mess there, it looks sloppy and blows all over the place. I think its terrible when LCO's blow everything into the street and leave. Don't you care about your impression?

KS_Grasscutter

04-05-2007, 09:28 PM

Had a similar situation last fall. Was blowing out a flowerbed, and the next door neihbor accused me of blowing them into her bed (the beds are bordering eachother, houses in that area are kinda close together). I say, no, i wasnt but i will go ahead and blow yours out just to be sure I didn't get any in there. So then i get all the beds blew out, and was mowing the leafs up. As I mowed up the leafs in her yard I just blew out of the beds, she came and yelled at me, saying get my riding mower off her lawn as her husband would be all mad (thought my 400lb Dixon would damage her lawn:laugh: ) . I just sat there with a blank stare, while she was going off on me for cleaning up her leafs for FREE just to make her happy. All the while her stupid 10 y.o. son was sitting on the porch babysitting me and my buddy that was helping that day, running in every time a leaf flew into her lawn (keep in mind, there were leafs still falling everywhere as it was just mid fall). I don't know what the lady there said to my customer, as I was promised the lawn for this season, but that kinda never happened.

MOW PRO LAWN SERVICE

04-05-2007, 09:37 PM

A word of advice never shut the blower or trimmer off,you will know in seconds whatz going on.

1cooltreeguy

04-05-2007, 09:42 PM

Yeah , Keep the motor on the equipment running so you can continue working when you determine that the approaching person is not "friendly". Keep Moving

MuleCutter

04-05-2007, 09:55 PM

i try to keep the streets and curbs as clean as possible .... that's why i usually blow whatever i trim and edge back into the yard before mowing so i can mulch it all up. that way if something is in the street when i'm gone it's much less noticeable. but... as far as PITA neighbors and such... i just tell them that their yard/property/request they have is not my responsibility. it USUALLY works.

ChadsLawn

04-05-2007, 10:04 PM

Whatever mess I make, I clean up.... If I blow grass into the street Ill blow it back into the yard. Unless its a busy street, then I let the cars take it down the road with them.

pjslawncare/landscap

04-05-2007, 10:08 PM

She says well if you don't the wind will blow all of it into my yard. Just wanted to see if any of you have been in this situation and want to hear how you handled it. Thanks
I got to be honest with ya Lawn Barber. I think she has a valid point, however if I was her, I wouldnt say anything because its soo minor. We always clean any mess we make whether its in the street, on someone elses sidewalk, whenever, wherever. Always leave it clean. Many town ordanances prohibit lawn clipping from the street. My 2 cents

lifetree

04-05-2007, 10:25 PM

So I thought about it for a second so I just made the decision to blow the stuff out of the street back into my customers yard. My instincts just said do it so you don't cause a bad rap in the neighborhood and possiblt loose a customer. Just wanted to see if any of you have been in this situation and want to hear how you handled it. Thanks

LawnBarber -- You did the right thing ... it's not worth losing a paying customer over something like that.

TheLawnBarber

04-06-2007, 01:34 AM

This is why I love this site! I get excellent opinions on every aspect of the trade. But theres no sign that says you can't blow stuff into the street. Just my 2 cents.

Scag48

04-06-2007, 03:16 AM

To me, if I'm driving down the street and see a lawn crew leave debris in the street I immediately think they're a shoddy crew that does shoddy work. Clean up your mess for goodness sake, you're getting paid for it. Sorry man, I think the lady was a bit out of line coming over after the first week and basically assumed you weren't going to take care of it, for all she knows you might not have gotten there yet. But seriously, is cleaning up after yourself too much to ask? I would be embarassed to leave clippings in the street, but I guess by the sounds of it my standards for quality are just too high :dizzy: . Your business though, just keep in mind people notice that stuff, I know I do.

Runner

04-06-2007, 06:48 AM

I fully agree with the above post. Why would ANYone blow crap out in the street or leave stuff in the street, anyway? I have got on to workers for leaving a little bit in the curbline. It is a pet peave of mine. Services that leave stuff like that? that's the type of stuff that GETS us jobs. You are a service business that is providing what business...Oh yeah,...APPEARANCE. It is called curb appeal. Just remember, the curb and gutter is the closest thing to observers driving or walking by when they are looking at the lawn.

supercuts

04-06-2007, 08:21 AM

to me, nothing like doing a great job mowing only to leave the property looking like crap with all the debris in the road. deffinately not professional. depending on how much and how wet the clipping are, i often used the mower to blow roads/driveways off. i find going backwords works much better and saves alot of time over going to get the back pack, start it up, put it on, walk all over etc.

here is the crappy neigbor story, last fall i had a house up really high on a hill and the neighbor was done in a "valley" next to it. there was about 50' of woods between the two and my customers house owned most of the woods. they were the only woods to blow the leaves in and only access to the large backyard was a 5' walkway next house to the retaining wall up kinda high with a large drop to the 50' woods, so now way to get the truck in to suck them up. so im blowing the leaves into the woods when the crazy neighbor comes charging through the woods screaming at me while carring her phone. i start off as kind and polite as possible and she tells me all the leave will end up in her yard. i failed to mention im blowing them off a retaining wall with about a 10' drop, doing so so they fall almost straight down so the wall acts as a barrier to keep the wind from blowing them down towards her property and so you dont see them fromthe house(alot of leaves)

i tell her there is little chance of the leaves blowing into her lanw and she continues to yell at me. i told her if any leaves blow into her yard they are from the trees that still had leaves on them in her yard. after telling this is where the customer wanted me to blow them she instructs me to haul them away. i told her only if you want to pay for it and told her it will cost alot to haul them all to the front then $125/load. she was like what am i to do so i calmly told her not to buy a house in a hole. she swore at me a few times so i told her just to call the police then(i used to work for them in town too). so she charges out to my truck and takes the number down off my trailer

later that day when i get home there is a message from her asking to speak to the manager or the owner. i guess im both, so i give her a call and entertain her complaint, never telling her i was the one talking to her. i asked her what happened she said they blew "all the leaves onto my proptery". i asked did a few happen to blow over or was it intensional? she said no they did it on purpose to make me mad so i swore at them. i was like oh no, ill talk to my guys and see whta i can do but you need to realize they were doing as the customer asked. long story short we went back to finish a week later did the same thing, she came out screaming agian i just ignored her, another message that day, called back, she lied again, told her not to lie, i was the one she was talking to she went nuts, called me a liar for not telling her etc etc ect.

also last fall had a lady who didnt want to pay, was supposed to upfront because she didnt sign a proposal but she slipped out the door. went back to finish, made the piles but before we sucked them up i went ofr the check. refused to pay until i was done and reminder her i was supposed to get the check upfront and she just said no! i was like ok, not getting paid, so i told her she pays or she gets her first load of leaves back. dumped the load of leaves in her driveway so she couldnt get it, she called the Police, they said what to you want us to do, they're your leaves and you didnt pay. well she paid, but it did feel wierd sucking up the same leaves twice.

LawnGuy73

04-06-2007, 09:10 AM

Whatever mess I make, I clean up.... If I blow grass into the street Ill blow it back into the yard. Unless its a busy street, then I let the cars take it down the road with them.

Bingo......

Albery's Lawn & Tractor

04-06-2007, 09:21 AM

Here if we leave clippings in the streets we'll get a fine from the city.

bigtex

04-06-2007, 09:45 AM

Daricek, I Like Your Style. But I Bet It Did Feel Weird Suckin Up The Leaves (again) Lol! I Got The Same Advice As Some Of The Other Guys, (don't Shut Off Equip Until You Know Its A Safe Call). Some People Are Just Born To ***** And Landscapers Are Easy Targets For Them. They Sit In There House, Watch You Through The Windows And Just Wait For Something. (but) If You Do Your Job (right) You Shouldn't Have Too Many Problems.

Lynden-Jeff

04-06-2007, 10:18 AM

ONCE I had this property and in the back yards there is a steep hill with rocks at the bottom. We needed a ramp to get over the big rocks on to the hill. Well we were going to ask the neighbour if we could use their grass path up the hill. Our customer said she was a biatch so we decided to just build a ram. Anyways apparently she called my customer and said we DID use her property (when we didn't). He belived us too. The next time we are out there she comes out bitching about how far over we cut on the property line and all this and we just finished packed up and left. The next time we cut out customer stood outside and had a huge screaming battle with her while we cut lol. Never seen her again.

Cheers
Jeff

Mowman16

04-06-2007, 11:21 AM

I mowed trimmed and edged. I start blowing the sidewalks etc, and there was a little of a mess because the edging and the neighbor lady from across the street approaches me. So I shut off the blower to see what she wants. I first thought she just wanted an estimate but she says to me, Are you going to blow those clippings off the street. By the way shes old ( I hate old people who think their the sh#t.) I say no. She says well if you don't the wind will blow all of it into my yard. Theres a pause and she says well are you going to do it. At this point I just want to say go **** yourself and I cant beleive I didn't say it. Just wanted to see if any of you have been in this situation and want to hear how you handled it. Thanks

also last fall had a lady who didnt want to pay, was supposed to upfront because she didnt sign a proposal but she slipped out the door. went back to finish, made the piles but before we sucked them up i went ofr the check. refused to pay until i was done and reminder her i was supposed to get the check upfront and she just said no! i was like ok, not getting paid, so i told her she pays or she gets her first load of leaves back. dumped the load of leaves in her driveway so she couldnt get it, she called the Police, they said what to you want us to do, they're your leaves and you didnt pay. well she paid, but it did feel wierd sucking up the same leaves twice.

The next time we cut out customer stood outside and had a huge screaming battle with her while we cut lol. Never seen her again.

Cheers
Jeff

LAWNBARBER,
That would have been totally unprofessional (swearing at an old lady) and when you make a mess YOU clean it up. Plus a job looks crappy if you leave stuff in the street.

DARICEK,
I bet it felt good to dump the leafs on her driveway after her refusing to pay...lol

Xoopiter,
Don't you love to see customers go at it with their neighbor?:laugh: I had one customer get mad at his neighbor (also my customer) about her ignoring him when he waved at her, he motioned me over to where they were talking (I had no idea what was going on), and he says to me "wasn't that rude"? I said "I'm just here to mow the grass" . He got all mad that I wold not take his side...I don't work for him anymore.

MikeLT1Z28

04-06-2007, 11:25 AM

did the stuff in the street get there from him... or was it already there because of some lazy homeowner? (i have that problem around here a lot).

i once had someone big pregnant girl get mad at me for blowing the clippings back onto the yard i was cutting (not hers...) and she said the wind could carry all that "S***" into her yard. here's the thing.. her yard was bare spot and weeds... nothing more. go figure.

DaughtryLC

04-06-2007, 12:05 PM

It almost makes you want to blow them across the street into her yard while she watches!:eek:

grassmanvt

04-06-2007, 12:41 PM

If you put it there, its yours to clean up.Simple enough. Sometimes, if a neighbor blows debris out, we'll even clean it up if it looks like it could have come from a property we've cut, just so that it doesn't make us look bad. If you were working for me and blew crap in the road and left it, I would remind you a couple times, then, you would no longer work for me. Very unprofesional.

TheLawnBarber

04-06-2007, 01:16 PM

Well this is how we do things in Idaho and every landscaper does what I do. Plus its not like theres going to be this mess every week. The edge just happened to be a little thick!

daveintoledo

04-06-2007, 03:49 PM

first sign of a hack.... unprofessional, looks like a kid did the job..... NO professional company would leave clippings in the street.... only kids

Damian

04-06-2007, 06:54 PM

I had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago. This old next-door neighbor **** came up to me while I was working and asked if I was going to blow the leaves that I had blown from my customer's lawn out into the street, back into the yard.

I told him I didn't blow any leaves into the street; they were already there. Oak leaves. Lots of them, from his property and others on the street as my customer has no oak trees. I pointed this out to the old **** and since he didn't like this being pointed out, he threatened to call the cops.

Now, the customer herself has said to blow what is against the curb when I get there, out into the street - as opposed into her flower bed or her cut lawn - as they belong to her neighbors to begin with. I have no problem with this. The debris that I create in doing my job, I take care of, but I'm not there to clean up other people's messes. Now, if they want to pay me...

mow & snow

04-06-2007, 07:19 PM

I always use the blower on the street. I wear a headset and sunglasses so when I see a PITA neighbor approaching I just put my head down and keep moving as if I can't see or hear them.

Runner

04-06-2007, 07:37 PM

LOL! I find it hard to believe that the entire state of Idaho has curblines gunked up with grass clippings and debris. We're just raggin' on ya, givin' you a hard time...I'm sure that in the future, you may pay more attention and take the few extra seconds out to set yourself apart from the rest.

MOW PRO LAWN SERVICE

04-06-2007, 07:51 PM

I always use the blower on the street. I wear a headset and sunglasses so when I see a PITA neighbor approaching I just put my head down and keep moving as if I can't see or hear them.
I 95% always clean the mess,but very seldom does my ope get shut down.

DAV Mowers

04-06-2007, 09:00 PM

My customers pay me for a servce and that is their lawn.

Anything on the lawn, sidewalk, crub or street in front of their house wither it was done by me, the customers or mother nature gets cleaned up. That is why I always carry trashbags and brooms with me in my truck.

My work shows the difference between a pro and not some kid down the street.

mosmgras

04-06-2007, 09:05 PM

Like most of these guys, I usually blow all the clippings back into the yard that I just cut. I know, I know... there's no law that says I have to, but I hate complaints. I'd rather spend an extra few minutes cleaning up than to have someone come over and gripe.

Lynden-Jeff

04-06-2007, 09:14 PM

Xoopiter,
Don't you love to see customers go at it with their neighbor?:laugh: I had one customer get mad at his neighbor (also my customer) about her ignoring him when he waved at her, he motioned me over to where they were talking (I had no idea what was going on), and he says to me "wasn't that rude"? I said "I'm just here to mow the grass" . He got all mad that I wold not take his side...I don't work for him anymore.

Theres 2 types of annoying people. People that have nothing better to do then sit at home and find everything under the sun to ***** about. Then theres the people that have more money then brains and are so freakin picky about everything yet won't pay for crap.

One lady I gave a quote to told me she had a lawsuit going with her neighbour over a tree because its dropping branches in her yard. I wanted to go shake the neighbours hand. And you know she can't have ANY weeds in her gardens, and dear god NO mulch unless its poo brown. Cedars to red. Blacks no good. Pines to light. Stones are ugly. Like COME ON LADY. PAY what it costs for me to spend an hour or 2 weeding your wire filled gardens (no tillers!) And best of all is she "needs a 4 man crew because she doesn't want to have to go around behind us and do the work". I told her I could come by my self and do a better job then 4 people because id stay until its done. :dizzy: :dizzy: :dizzy:

jbell113

04-06-2007, 09:32 PM

My customers pay me for a servce and that is their lawn.

Anything on the lawn, sidewalk, crub or street in front of their house wither it was done by me, the customers or mother nature gets cleaned up. That is why I always carry trashbags and brooms with me in my truck.

My work shows the difference between a pro and not some kid down the street.

So you sweep the street? ;) Need to get a blower.....

dcplace2004

04-06-2007, 09:45 PM

and had that blower shoved up your arse for blowing debris into the street. If debris is big enough to see - and I can see that if you stick edge, there can be some heavy debris at the beginning of the season. Therefore, the verdict is, that you are a fool with no sense and the lady has a valid argument - elderly or not. And like an even bigger fool, you blow it somewhere else instead of taking 2 to 5 minutes to get the bulk up...you have no argument on this, BUDDY BOY!

MikeLT1Z28

04-06-2007, 10:15 PM

am i the only person who pulls up to a property, looks for trash, sticks, etc, then edges it, then blows everything from the curb and near the house out in the yard then start cutting? hell, with all the blowers most of us have, one quick flick of the wrist and whatever little pile of debris was there is gone.

corey4671

04-06-2007, 11:36 PM

ok...here's my PITA customer...MY NEIGHBOR...I started mowing for him last season. He works nights. Gets home around 9am. I would normally mow his yard and my yard one afternoon after I'd get home from work. Never had a problem. Two weeks ago, he comes out and says, gonna have to mow this thing Saturday morning before noon, i gotta sleep....ok....what if it rains that saturday? he says then let it go that week....omg!! well i got behind last week and didn't get it mowed saturday morning...come home monday afternoon and start mowing....dude is out in his yard walking around when i got home too. start mowing and here he comes...I gotta get some sleep! SATURDAY MORNING!!! Now, mind you, he leaves to go to work around 9:30 at night, about the tmie I'm getting to sleep and my 8 month old is going to sleep. He either rides his LOUDAZZ Harley to work or his Dodge with the Cummings and straight pipe both of which shake my whole house when he starts then up and feels the need to let them sit and idle for what seems like 10 minutes before he leaves. I have just bit my tounge over all this cause I don't want my neighbor ticked of at me but he has got to realize that the world doesn't revolve around him and that he is painting me into a very small box by saying it has to be mowed on saturday before noon.

robbo521

04-06-2007, 11:56 PM

should have took the blower and blowed her back to her yard!

DAV Mowers

04-07-2007, 07:46 AM

So you sweep the street? ;) Need to get a blower.....

Can you blow the trash into a trashbag? Or do you just blow it around?

I thought most pros would understand how I do it when I posted the broom and trashbags but I was wrong.

All the trash gets blown into a pile and then I use the broom to sweep it into the trashbags, simple and fast. And it makes it easy to pick up jobs that others made a mess of and lost.

supercuts

04-07-2007, 07:55 AM

ok...here's my PITA customer...MY NEIGHBOR...I started mowing for him last season. He works nights. Gets home around 9am. I would normally mow his yard and my yard one afternoon after I'd get home from work. Never had a problem. Two weeks ago, he comes out and says, gonna have to mow this thing Saturday morning before noon, i gotta sleep....ok....what if it rains that saturday? he says then let it go that week....omg!! well i got behind last week and didn't get it mowed saturday morning...come home monday afternoon and start mowing....dude is out in his yard walking around when i got home too. start mowing and here he comes...I gotta get some sleep! SATURDAY MORNING!!! Now, mind you, he leaves to go to work around 9:30 at night, about the tmie I'm getting to sleep and my 8 month old is going to sleep. He either rides his LOUDAZZ Harley to work or his Dodge with the Cummings and straight pipe both of which shake my whole house when he starts then up and feels the need to let them sit and idle for what seems like 10 minutes before he leaves. I have just bit my tounge over all this cause I don't want my neighbor ticked of at me but he has got to realize that the world doesn't revolve around him and that he is painting me into a very small box by saying it has to be mowed on saturday before noon.

behind my house my grandfather owned property 12 acres, and i used to ride my dirtbike on it, i had to go through my neighbors, they were fine with it, down 50' of the side street to the property because of a pond/stream between the house and property. well the neighbor on the side road just moved in and came over to scream at me and kick me off my property. at first i entertained his complaint trying to work with him, apologized, told him it was my property adn said im only up here 2-3 times a month for 15-20mins and that i understand if the baby is sleeping or if hes having a party to let me know and ill stop riding but i wasnt about to stop completely. he then contiued to yell at me and tell me which area to ride in and to stay away from the part near his yard. i laughed in his face and said if you want to be an ass ill be out here every your in the yard, in a chair, at the pool, barbaquing, party, you name it. i made it a point to do wheelies up the road every time he was out and drive my 78' ford on 38's and loud as hell until he moved.